Criticism of Amesbauer:

“In the end, it will be worse for everyone”

Claudia Klimt-Weithaler (KPÖ), Sandra Krautwaschl (Greens) and Hannes Schwarz (SPÖ).

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz)

Hannes Amesbauer (FPÖ), the new state councillor for social affairs, reiterated his hard line in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper: no integration support for asylum seekers, cuts to social and housing benefits, tougher sanctions. He does not want to call this "social coldness". The opposition sees it differently.

"A state councillor for social affairs who receives 17,500 euros gross per month wants to cut the last safety nets for families with many children and low incomes," said KPÖ parliamentary group leader Claudia Klimt-Weithaler on Friday, outraged. "The FPÖ and ÖVP are always using the same old tricks to make social cuts palatable to people: It should 'only affect foreigners anyway'. But it always ends up being worse for everyone." Because: "Those who cut back on families with many children will of course also affect parents and children with an Austrian passport."

Amesbauer does not want to present concrete data and timetables for his plans until after the government meeting in Schloss Seggau (January 31 and February 1). "So far, the state government has only presented headlines and headlines, but without presenting concrete measures," criticizes SPÖ party chairman Hannes Schwarz.

The new Styrian Social and Environmental Affairs Minister Hannes Amesbauer.

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

Amesbauer stands by symbolic politics
Critics believe that some measures will not have much effect. The politician himself emphasizes in the interview that it is all about symbolic politics, especially in the area of asylum: Styria should become unattractive for asylum seekers. A goal that he shares with Viktor Orbán (Hungary) and Matteo Salvini (Italy) - Amesbauer confidently mentions the links to both.

Expansion of wind power: Stepping off the gas pedal
The state councillor also makes explosive statements in the area of the environment: he does not want to stop the expansion of wind power (unlike the FPÖ in Carinthia), but he does want to slow it down. In any case, according to the program, the new government has already scaled back the previously ambitious plans up to 2030: instead of a total of 1000 MW of wind power capacity, around 700 are now planned.

 "To say that wind turbines are a 'huge intrusion into nature' is simply outdated and will not bring us one step closer to energy independence," says Sandra Krautwaschl, leader of the Green Party. For her, the planned abolition of the "fine dust 100" on the highways around Graz shows that Amesbauer "speeding is obviously more important than the health of the people in the greater Graz area". She is not surprised by this, but finds it unacceptable.